Certain medical conditions or diseases require that patients intermittently inject a drug or therapeutic agent subcutaneously to maintain the medical condition or disease under control. Multiple daily injections (MDIs) may be required. One such medical condition is diabetes, for which insulin is injected to regulate blood glucose. An estimated twenty-six million people in the United States, or about 8% of the population, have diabetes. This percentage is expected to increase in the near-term as the population ages.
An infusion set is used with an insulin pump to deliver insulin subcutaneously to the patient in treating many patients for diabetes. The infusion set can include a hollow flexible cannula or a needle attached to an infusion set body, an adhesive patch for securing the infusion set body to the patient, and tubing to deliver insulin from the insulin pump through the cannula or needle and to the patient. The infusion set remains in place on the body for up to two or three days.
Infusion set insertion devices have been developed to assist the patient in deploying the infusion set, i.e., in inserting the cannula or a needle into the skin at the desired infusion site on the body and securing the infusion set to the body with the adhesive patch. An infusion set is loaded into the insertion device, a spring on the insertion device is cocked, the insertion device with the loaded infusion set is positioned over the infusion site, and the spring released, inserting the cannula or a needle into the skin and placing the adhesive patch against the skin.
Unfortunately, present insertion devices employ a pull handle that makes it difficult for the user to properly load the infusion set into the insertion device. The pull handle is used both to cock the spring on the insertion device and to release the insertion device from the infusion set after the spring has been released and the infusion set has been placed at the infusion site. Users prevent the infusion set from seating properly by holding the pull handle in the release position manually or by placing the insertion device on a flat surface such as a table while attempting to load the infusion set into the insertion device. Users can also depress the pull handle into the release position after the infusion set has been properly loaded, dislodging the infusion set from the properly loaded position. The pull handle can be depressed by handling or by placing the pull handle downward on a flat surface such as a table.
It would be desirable to have an infusion set insertion device and method of use that would overcome the above disadvantages.